A team of researchers has achieved the fastest ever transmission rate for digital information between a single transmitter and receiver, sending data optically at a frankly ridiculous 1.125 terabits per second.
The result, achieved by scientists at University College London, uses a series of signal processing techniques to achieve the speed. But first, the lead researcher, Dr Robert Maher, puts the rate into context in a press release:

For comparison this is almost 50,000 times greater than the average speed of a UK broadband connection of 24 megabits per second... To give an example, the data rate we have achieved would allow the entire HD Game of Thrones series to be downloaded within one second.

The set-up uses fifteen different channels to send the data, each of which contain an optical signal of different wavelength. Each channel is separately modulated, then they're all combined into a single signal — what the researchers refer to as a "super channel". At the other end, a receiver with incredibly high bandwidth makes sense of it all. Perhaps it's best for Maher to explain this bit, as he does in the press release:

Using high-bandwidth super-receivers enables us to receive an entire super-channel in one go... However, using a single receiver varies the levels of performance of each optical sub-channel so we had to finely optimise both the modulation format and code rate for each optical channel individually to maximise the net information data rate. This ultimately resulted in us achieving the greatest information rate ever recorded using a single receiver.

There's a small but, though: In these experiments, the team directly connected the transmitter to the receiver. For their next trick, they will have to link the two using optical fibres, which will cause the signal to become distorted as it travels down the line.

So, it will be a little while before your broadband whips through that Game of Thrones download as Maher promises.

False, Coaxial might have speed, As long as you are the only one using it. As soon as your whole street is using it. That speed will drop faster than a block of concrete thrown out of a plane. No such issue occurs with FTTP

Not so. The fibre is the backbone and that doesn't bottle neck. The coaxial feeds off that and since the signal is amplified, you can get speeds of 100mbs.
I'm currently being trained as a communications technician.

Hate to depress you but the fibre system that is getting installed in Australia (fttp if you're one of the lucky ones) will max out at 100mbs. The bottle neck is not with the fibre but with the machines to get it to run.

Everyone "knew" that the 100Mb per second that the NBN originally promised for a full fibre system was a speed that could easily and reliably be achieved. And that in a relatively short period of time the technology would come to market that would allow for multi Gb/sec speeds.

But no. Instead we had armies of pro-liberal luddites proclaiming "Wireless is fast. Internet speeds are fast enough now. Why does it need to be any faster?"

Let's not forget that in both the link above and this article both are done in a lab under test conditions, not real world conditions and as such represent the absolute maximum the technology COULD achieve, not necessarily what it will. But I'm definitely more convinced by the 5G which is actually being received in the same manner it would in the real world as opposed to the one in this article where they were stuck together and not even transmitted over a Fibre Optic Cable.

@ixixly - unfortunately that's not correct. The testing of fibre (like the article) is much closer to real-world testing than 5G wireless.

When testing wireless tech in the lab, the simulation doesn't consider the fact that bandwidth needs to be shared with multiple users, nor does it take into account the limited frequencies available to a real-world telco, fluctuating radio interference, atmospheric conditions, or the fact that wireless devices are rarely stationary and have a clear line of sight to the transmitter.

When testing fibre in the lab, the only real difference to real-world use is the age and condition of the fibre. But since real-world fibre isn't susceptible to corrosion or interference, that's not really much of a concern anyway.

There is NO WAY that wireless communication will EVER have the bandwidth, reliability or upgradeabilty of fibre.

False. Fibre optic cable will always beat 5g or what every mobile spectrum comes. Because those radio spectrums can handle mobile data transmisiion, But they cannot handle home internet bandwidth and more. It does not have the bandwidth. You know how when you at a major sporting event and mobile coverage becomes crappy? That would be Australia 24/7 if they took up your idea and ran Australias internet through 5g.

We'll see how technology is in about 5 years when the NBN is "Hopefully" complete and then look back decide if it was worth the tens of billions of dollars that could have been spent elsewhere when we have to rip it all up and do it again because there is newer technology available yet again.

False again, Fibre optic is a lot more future proof because it is easily upgradeable and has much more bandwidth than the wireless you speak of. The fibre will not need to be ripped up to upgrade it. The machines at each end are the only things that would need to be upgraded.

Um, the technology is already here but the system that's getting installed here max's out at 100mbs. Fibre to the node and copper to the house max's out at 35mbs. Swap the copper for coaxial cable and it jumps to 100mbs. That's currently the direction the government wants to go because many many houses have the cable already installed.

You are mis-informed. Coaxial is not faster than fibre - not now, not ever. Nothing is faster or more reliable than fibre communications. FttH is capable of x100 higher speeds than they are currently selling with a simple upgrade of the boxes at either end.

In 20 years time, the cost to upgrade everyone in the country who has a full-fibre connection to 10Tb speeds will only be in the hundreds of millions. For FTTN, it will be billions. Thanks Tony, ya tosser!

I'm currently learning to be a communications technician and yes, coaxial will give 100mbs. I could send you all the technical jargon but I couldn't be fucked. I've got a huge stack of paperwork at home to prove it but I'm not going through it to prove a point. The fibre network in Australia goes through certain machines and those are what's holding up the speeds. Yes we can replace them to get faster speeds in the future but right now, that's what we have to work with.

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